Martin Kruger
The current leader of the Army of Revolution, Colonel Martin Kruger rose through the ranks on the back of his own ambition and shameless manipulation of those around him as much as he did through any skill. Having inherited a broken and demoralised army, he has made it his goal to one again rebuild it into an effective fighting force. History Origins The unwanted son of a mercenary and a prostitute, Martin Kruger was born in 2241 in Park Lane. Essentially abandoned, he grew up in the gutters of the community, living among its population of drifters and transients. As fate would have it, Kruger was found by the then growing Army of Revolution, who were looking for warm bodies to fill out their ranks; even though he was still essentially a child, he was scooped up for use as cannon fodder if nothing else. Despite the low standards to which he was kept, Kruger wholeheartedly embraced the Army of Revolution and its goals of conquest and ‘purification’ of the human race. He also drank in its supposed history, enamoured with the idea of an army that had been fighting for ‘the little guy’ for nearly three hundred years. To Kruger, the Army of Revolution represented a purpose for his life, one that had been completely lacking up until then. During what passed for his training, Kruger displayed two skills that would shape his future career. The first was that he proved to be a capable soldier, despite his lack of age and background. Fit for his age, he demonstrated considerable skill as a marksman and in hand to hand combat against his peers. He also showed that he was capable of taking orders and following them to the letter, regardless of how risky or dangerous they might be. Finally, he was able to soak up the abuse that his instructors and fellow cadets heaped upon him, showing a considerable resilience. The second was not only his loyalty to his cause, but his willingness to turn on his fellows if he saw that it could be to his own benefit. Kruger would quietly dob in his fellow cadets or whatever infractions he caught them out in. Be it laziness, sneaking chems, being out beyond curfew or whatever else, he had no compunctions against dobbing anyone in if he felt he could benefit from it. He quietly became a snitch for his instructors, who in turn rewarded him with favourable duties and reviews. In turn, he also learned when to use what he knew as leverage against his fellows, promising not to rat them out if they could be useful to him. In the Field Graduating as a junior officer, as much for his skills as he was for his shameless manipulation of others, Kruger was assigned to an active squad. Even though most of his subordinates were older then him, Kruger quickly taught them to respect his authority through a combination of demonstrated battlefield skill and playing against their weaknesses and foibles. Soon his squad was one of the best in the Army of Revolution, bring motivated, driven and pulling of impressive victories against their foes. As the Revolutionaries became more aggressive and open in their attacks on other settlements, Kruger’s squad were at the frontlines of the conflict, proving to be one of their most capable. What came to be his career defining moment occured in 2261, during a raid on Scrap Iron City. Having made it past the first layer of defences, Kruger’s squad found itself cut off from their backup, with the support he had been promised failing to materialise. Managing to extricate himself from the mess he had found himself in, Kruger made it back to friendly lines, albeit without most of his squad. Once there, he found that his commander, Captain Sam Prini, had already declared him killed in action after withdrawing early. Realising that he had been hung out to dry, Kruger turned on his commander. He accused Captain Prini of abandoning him and his men to die, and being willing to sacrifice their lead against Scrap Iron City for his own gain. He went on to state that this was because Prini enjoyed ‘deviant sexual acts with ghouls’ and that he had tried to kill Kruger to cover his own tracks. Under pressure and against mounting evidence (some fabricated by Kruger), Prini admitted the truth and was promptly executed. Kruger, on the other hand, was rewarded and promoted for his actions as well as for ferreting out a ‘pervert’ from within the Army’s ranks. The Army of Revolution’s retreat from the Detroit Wasteland put a brake on Kruger’s frontline career, but not his ambitions. He remained active as a soldier for several years, taking part in recon operations and raids that were used to keep what was left of the Army of Revolution in shape and help garner information about the situation within the Detroit Wasteland. As a surviving veteran of the conflict, he also was essential to the Revolutionaries’ analysis of their situation and what had gone wrong, allowing them to plan for the future and what they saw as their inevitable return to the city. Ascendancy However, Kruger had his own ambitions, ones that did not just end on the frontline. Using a combination of his own experience and the various favours, debts and blackmail he had accumulated over the years, he ensured his own promotion as the Army of Revolution rebuilt its ranks. By 2275, he had been promoted to major, and was now a member of one of the army’s inner circle of commanding officers under Colonel Olivia Milton. However, he still saw himself as being capable of so much more, and lived for the day that he would lead the force himself, and lord over a conquered Detroit. The rise of the Foundry in the early 2280s presented Kruger with his opportunity. One of the first to see the similar goals and beliefs of the two groups, he advocated for an alliance between the two. Colonel Milton agreed with his assessment, and began a program to reach out to the industrial settlement. The two formed an alliance that traded raw material and food for weapons, allowing the Army of Revolution to expand its forces and improve their equipment. Confident of the Army’s strength, Kruger began working with Majors Ken Pendleton and Kim Cho to develop a plan aimed at bringing the entire Detroit Wasteland under their control. While ambitious, the plan had a solid foundation aimed at quickly capturing the three northern communities of Scrap Iron City, Baggie High and Chryslus Castle, before moving south towards Park Lane. By that point, the Army of Revolution would be able to bring its full strength to bear against Park Lane, crushing its defences. From there, they would be able to threaten Grand Central, and hopefully force the community into surrender rather then facing a desperate last stand. Kruger, Pendleton and Cho presented the plan, code-named SAVAGE HAMMER to Milton in August of 2283. While she was initially dubious and found it to be overly ambitions, the plan was supported by a number of her subordinates. However, many of those had fallen under Kruger’s sway one way or another, and as such their opinions were based less on millitary fact as it was on their desire to curry political favour. After gathering their assessments, Milton approved the plan, while also promoting Kruger to Lieutenant Colonel, making him second in command of the Army of Revolution. The Revolutionary War Launched in spring 2284, the so-called Revolutionary War initially went well for the Army of Revolution. Scrap Iron City and Baggie High fell quickly, validating Kruger’s plan as they met two out of their three inital objectives. However, Major Pendleton’s force targeting Chryslus Castle found themselves facing stiffer opposition then expected, and quickly bogged down, unable to make any breakthroughs. The calling up of reinforcements from Baggie High did not help the situation, with Chryslus Castle continuing to resist their advances. Conversely, Major Cho’s southern advance towards Park Lane seemed to initially go well. Encountering little organised resistance from raiders or other threats, Cho was able to partially encircle Park Lane and launched continual raids aimed at wearing down its defences and breaking morale. Kruger remained confident that he would be able to achieve his victory by capturing Park Lane and then forcing both Chryslus Castle and Grand Central into a surrender. Instead, the war changed directions as the Army of Revolution found itself drawn into a protracted, grinding guerrilla war. Their forces were unable to make any headway, and instead suffered severe losses that shattered their morale and force coherence. Realising that their plans were now untenable, Milton over-rode Kruger and ordered a broad retreat in order to preserve their remaining forces and consolidate their hold over what they had actually gained. Internally, Kruger was concerned for his future. He knew that Milton would likely blame him for this failure, and use it as an excuse to have him removed from his position. Using her focus on the Army’s retreat as a distraction, Kruger rounded up as many loyal officers as he could get and staged a coup, arresting Milton. He used grounds of incompetence to detain her and justify his actions, notwithstanding that the conflict had been his idea and that much of what had happened was, in essence, his fault. Now the acting commander of the Army of Revolution, Kruger did what he could to staunch the bleed and bring things back under control. In order to shore up his position, he had several of the officers in charge of the war arrested on jumped-up charges of incompetence, including his allies, Pendleton and Cho. Save for Milton, all were executed. Realising that she still had allies and supporters that could turn on him, Kruger instead ‘rewarded’ Milton with the role of ambassador to the Foundry. This not only separated her from her supporters, but also ensured that she would be unable to influence his future actions. Kruger had achieved one of his goals, in that he was now the leader of the Army of Revolution. However, instead of the conquering army he had dreamed of, instead he had inherited a broken, demoralised force. Furthermore, his actions had inadvertently strengthened his opponents, creating a more unified Detroit in their wake. Added to that, one of the conquered settlements had continued to underperform and cause trouble, substantially reducing any benefit bought from its conquest. In short, he had fallen into a trap of his own making. Personality At his heart, Martin Kruger is a greedy man who has spent his whole life looking out for himself and his own needs. Having been born with nothing, he has pulled himself up from the dirt and done all he could to cement his own position (Kruger claims to be the son of one of the Army of Revolutions’ founders. While this is technically true, what he doesn’t mention is that he was an unwanted bastard). To his end, he has lied, cheated, and manipulated others all his life in order to get what he wants. From his earliest days in the Army of Revolution and all the way up his rise to power, he has used others to further his own goals. Kruger has ended careers and lives to get where he is, and feels not one pang of guilt about it. Despite this rather cynical outlook on his own career and ambitions, he does genuinely believe in the Army of Revolution’s goals and ideas . He genuinely wants to see Detroit unified under their banner, feeling that such would be beneficial to the city and its people, a way to rescue them from the chaos and disorder of their lives. Of course, it would also serve his aims to be the leader of this conquering force, giving him his own kingdom to lord over. He holds nothing but contempt for the people of the Detroit Wasteland, seeing them as being little more then filthy savages, playing in the ruins of a once great civilisation. He also desires to see the human race ‘cleansed’ of the ‘filth’ of Ghouls and Super Mutants, seeing both as being abominations. While he has achieved one of his life’s goals in becoming leader of the Army of Revolution, Kruger has begun to see this as being something of a poisoned chalice. He wanted to be the leader of a glorious, conquering force, not the broken and struggling army that he actually has. He knows full well that his decision to depose Colonel Milton was more about his survival then the good of the army as a whole, and now worries that he might not have backed himself into a corner. His greatest concern is that if their situation doesn’t change, especially with the constant problems being suffered by their force in Scrap Iron City, then someone within the army may move to depose him. Appearance While in his late fourties, Martin Kruger is in good physical condition, especially for somebody living in the wastelands. He has kept himself in fighting shape, as much out of any sense of self-discipline as a desire to prove his ‘worth’ to lead the Army of Revolution. He keeps his greying hair trimmed, and sports a thick beard. He usually wears sunglasses, as much to appear intimidating as to hide the lines around his brown eyes, born from natural aging, exposure to the elements and his deepening concern for his future. He sports a number of scars from his decade of fighting, all of which are concealed under his uniform in order to help preserve his image. Equipment As the leader of the Army of Revolution, Kruger has access to a wide range of equipment and could, in theory, chose from anything in their arsenal. However, as he is now far removed from the field, he instead concentrates on preserving the image of a leader. He wears a uniform modelled on those worn by pre-war US Millitary officers, as a way of preserving the continuity and mythology that the Army of Revolution was build on, complete with decorations for his past service. He usually carries an ornately decorated Hunting Revolver as his standard sidearm, feeling that the weapon is rather intimidating looking and adds to his air of authority. Category:Characters Category:Michigan